Australia is reported to UN human rights council over illegal detention of asylum seekers
Government condemned for arbitrary detention of three asylum seekers, including a stateless man held for nearly nine years

United Nations body has condemned Australia’s arbitrary detention of three asylum seekers, one of whom has been held without charge or trial for nearly nine years.

The UN working group on arbitrary detention – which reports to the human rights council, on which Australia sits – said in its annual report it was concerned by “the rising prevalence of deprivation of liberty of immigrants and asylum seekers” worldwide and “the growing use of detention in the context of migration”.

The report highlighted 94 cases of arbitrary detention from countries – democratic and otherwise – across the globe, including China, Libya, Israel, Pakistan, the US, Zimbabwe, Burundi and the Congo.

Twelve defectors from North Korea are held without charge or trial by South Korea, children are being held arbitrarily in Egypt and Israel, and in Ethiopia, people have been released under international attention and pressure, only to be re-arrested and detained.

Three cases of arbitrary detention in Australia were highlighted by the group. In each case, Australia did not respond to the working group’s concerns, and ignored recommendations to release the men and compensate them for their illegal detention.

Said Imasi, a stateless man understood to be from Western Sahara, has been held without charge or trial in immigration detention in Australia for nearly nine years.

Orphaned as a child, he fled a criminal gang in Europe to Australia and sought asylum, but Australia’s immigration authorities (the department holding him has changed its name twice since 2010) have said they don’t know what to do with him or to where he could be sent.

He has been held in detention centres all over Australia, and is currently on Christmas Island.